Any used the high hedge act to get neighbours to trim leylandii?

You could offer to pay for it to be trimmed?

It's going to be thousands why should I pay when they have a duty to maintain the hedge.

The council used to cut our garden for the previous owners when it became too jungle for the neigbours, the previous owners were under council care so figure either covered by the council or they lodged a charge against the house along with other care costs.

So it's a boundary hedge right? Is it actually theirs or is it shared?

Wouldn't you just be within your rights to chop it down so long at the boundary remains?

Optimum height for leylandii is -18".

Or indeed any sodding conifer.

5ft wooden fence on boundary. The leylandii are a few foot into their side. When I spoke to the neighbour 5 years ago he said he planted them to stop the previous owner of our house peeping on his the teenage daughter sunbathing in the garden!
3m is fine and still. Above the max 2m of the act but 6m plus is ridiculous

Pretty sure the 2m you mention is for hedges at the front toward the road.

You should also price in your neighbour hating you....(Not your fault clearly but reporting them to the council is not going to make you very popular)

It’s going to be thousands why should I pay when they have a duty to maintain the hedge.

Because being pragmatic and comprising gets you your sunlight and view back quicker than being right.

We moved in 11 years ago and the henge to the neighbours over the back was about 3m tall

Bloody druids, no consideration for anyone else.

I think you have to exhaust all other routes of mediation first. 10 meters sounds a bit far away for the council to want to get involved.

It’s going to be thousands why should I pay when they have a duty to maintain the hedge.

Unless it's a really long boundary, may not be as much as you think. £600 would cover a chunk of it.

(I assume the teenage daughter is now in her 20s.....)

 We moved in 11 years ago and the henge to the neighbours over the back was about 3m tall

Bloody druids, no consideration for anyone else

Underated post

Following. Similar situation here, we are friendly with the neighbours and their property is rented but the leylandii is out of hand, nothing will grow underneath it as well as blocking out light. They don't want to upset their landlord and I know they don't have the money to pay to have any work done on it themselves

Get a quote, I doubt it will be thousands but hard to say without a picture.

Be careful with nesting birds this time of year, you may not actually be able to do anything until ~August.

It has been sooo long since we’ve had a neighbourly dispute thread. May I suggest setting fire to the shrubbery (after checking for baby robins) and then pwning your neighbours with bombers, weeing in their shoes and then hammering frozen sausages in to their lawn before finishing with bumming their dog.

The tree surgeon we talked too said leylandii are more expensive than regular trees as the trunks are thin and there are no limbs to use to lower bits down.
They had previously done some work for us on some mature ash trees so I know the pricing was fair and the work good.
They also said that they've got so out of control that reducing the height will probably kill the leylandii.
10m away for a 2 or 3m hedge is fine but at 6m plus we can only see the sky directly above us.

One of our neighbours had a row of massive leylandii that used to border a communal garden that's part of our terrace. I believe it started off fairly neighbourly and got pretty ugly. He was retired and a cantankerous git so found plenty of ways to make it as awkward as possible. In the end the council ordered him to remove the hedge, however he chopped down all but one of the trees (which is still there). One tree is not a hedge, different rules apply, it was allowed to stay. The lonely git won, except everyone now hates him.

You refer to high hedges legislation; have you fully read the legislation?

Have you considered 'right to light' legislation to understand whether or not you may have a case?

As for the fee a council will charge - I've just checked mine on their website and its £250 so your £600 seems excessive but if that's what they're quoting...ouch.

It’s going to be thousands why should I pay when they have a duty to maintain the hedge.

I had to maintain some on work premises that backed onto residential. Are you sure that isn't 'don't want the job' pricing?

And also you will probably struggle to get anyone (officially) until after nesting season (Mar-Sep) - although legal to trim hedges, etc it's illegal to disturb active nests

It might not impact upon your neighbours too much financially if they've a hedge fund they've been putting cash into.

I got six 6m + high leylandii trees (that were about 6m wide each)  and a 10m long leylandii hedge that was about 4m high taken out of our garden and removed down to stump level - chipped and removed for £1200.

Horrible horrible things.

a fine drill bit and a syringe of roundup delivered late evening as required sounds like the best thing to me.

probably climate change.

probably climate change.

Yeah, a lot of trees of that size may well be exhausting whatever limited ground water supplies they have and they’re just naturally dying off. Nothing to be done, guv, except cut them down before they shed dead leaves and branches everywhere. 🤷🏼😉

I'm not sure poisonimg a row of tall trees that could fall on our house is the brightest idea.

I've just hacked my neighbour's leylandii hedge back to the boundary. They used to come around and trim them for me, but each time the hedge was encroaching slightly further into my garden and they just squared it off, so they were slowly occupying more and more of my land in a stealth invasion. It looks a bit brown and unhealthy now but I've got 7m³ of garden back.

They also put them in for "privacy", but Colditz had smaller walls. It's not too bad for me as I've not held back in controlling the part that I have access to, but my neighbours further along have a permanently marshy garden and the hedge is more than 6m tall in places, towering over their house.

Hedge height laws and right to light are horribly complicated in a garden, and probably not worth the effort and expense of investigating.

They used to come around and trim them for me, but each time the hedge was encroaching slightly further into my garden and they just squared it off, so they were slowly occupying more and more of my land in a stealth invasion. It looks a bit brown and unhealthy now

It'll most likely stay brown and unhealthy - leylandii don't have dormant buds in old growth, so if you hack it back beyond the green bit it's not likely to recover well.

You'll often see that someone has hacked back a big leylandii hedge to brown twigs, then a few years later they get fed up with the brown twigs not growing back and take the whole lot down.

And for the OP, there's a whole forum for discussing the legalities of hedges

https://www.gardenlaw.co.uk/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=7

We had 5 leylandii across our boundary, each one 25 to 30m high

Yes 30m. All with multi stems, an utter horror show. Arb team took them out over several days, it wasn't cheap obviously but JFC what a difference in sunlight in the garden. Worth every one of the many pennies it cost.

OP, your post is exactly why I took ours down as soon as practicable.

Even when viewing before the purchase was even a thing I had concerns about the size of the buggers.

Initially git the tips lopped off so we could get the lightweight roof fitted to the conservatory.

But after going for a brew with the new neighbour and seeing the mess on his side after trimming and just how much light and space they were taking up, we had them out.

I feel your pain and hope you get a resolution.

Interesting and timely one for me, I have a boundary hedge (about 12m high) of Leylandi at the back of my garden, i believe it is my hedge in that just the other side of the trunks is a wire fence which I presume is the boundary.

My issue is that i have always maintained my side of the hedge, and have tried my best to keep it level on top. But it has two council properties behind, one didn't used to maintain their side, but has recently brought someone in, but the second has not touched his garden in years, he is a real oddball and walks around in a pith helmet, his garden is brambles and weeds over 6ft high, but as he has never maintained his side of the hedge, it is has grown outwards as well as up, to the point where it is 6-8ft wide bordering his garden and i cannot reach that far over, so my half of the top of the hedge is level, then it is just wild for his side and all dying off.

Where do you stand with something like that, do you both have a duty to keep it controlled?

Moved into a house with overgrown leylandii once. "Luckily" it was ~10 ft tall at the time.

Trimmed it back as far a possible with hedge cutters.

Had to dive into the bigger stuff with loppers.

Then went at the remains with a chainsaw.

So. Many. Small. Branches. Too big for hedge trimmer, too small for chainsaw. Complete nightmare to even get to something big enough to be worth cutting. Manual loppers were ok, but, total pain.

Horrible stuff.

And then we had to dispose of the remains. Literally tons of it.

Had a lot of bonfires that year.

but as he has never maintained his side of the hedge, it is has grown outwards as well as up

I imagine he's never maintained his side of the hedge because, as you admit, it's your hedge...

planted them to stop the previous owner of our house peeping

Surely the perv would have just bought a drone?

I imagine he’s never maintained his side of the hedge because, as you admit, it’s your hedge

The trouble is, i cannot get access to his property, i wouldn't even be able to get through his back garden it is so badly overgrown, plus each time i have tried to talk to him, he has no interest at all.

Wait for them to go on holiday, arrange an 'accidental' BBQ incident?

Our house had a large leylandii hedge along the back when we moved in, I think 11 shrubs, all about 60ft high.

The neighbour behind us (who we didn't know) randomly called round one time and asked if we'd do something about it.  I said it was something I wanted to do but didn't have the cash to deal with it at the time.

A month or so later the local councillor called round (I assume for free) advising that I could be prosecuted for it and end up with an ASBO (do they still exist?).

We scraped the cash together (neighbour put 100 towards it - as well as giving us some books for our baby), it was about 15 years ago and cost about £700 to get them reduced to about 8ft high from about 60ft.

I later got a chainsaw from Lidl and removed them altogether.

I'm still known as ASBO at work and my secret santa gift that year was a junior hacksaw 😀

cheers_driveFull Member
It’s going to be thousands why should I pay when they have a duty to maintain the hedge.

Because it inconveniencing you, not them? As above disputes with your neighbours are not something you want to get into and have to be declared when selling the property. Don't get me wrong, I sympathise with your situation, but at the end of the day this is winding you up, not them...

The cost with these things is in dealing with the sheer volume of material.

Chopping them down is the easy bit.

I've been in your situation OP and I paid for neighbours trees to be chopped down safely, but said I would deal with the aftermath.

If you can chip it on site into a compost pile then in 5 years you'll have more lovely compost than you ever dreamed of.

As a corner plot I have a significant leylandi hedge along 3 boundaries, approx 2.5m high and in places a similar depth approx 45m long....

Yes I know everyone hates them, and they are an utter pain to keep on top off, but, as a hedge they are pretty good at doing the sort of thing you want a hedge to do.  Despite being a corner plot on a busy local road the front garden feels very private, visitors often call it a secret garden.   It also does a decent job of absorbing noise, and I stop dust / rubbish / general crap I see chucked into other peoples gardens along the road.

I cut it myself, 3 times a year, I have to do the inside, outside and top over the space of 6 weeks as each one fills the large garden wheelie bin.   I just run my lawnmower over the cuttings to mulch it and pick it up.  It takes a couple of hours each go, so really not too bad.  Main thing is the weather letting me do it.

It really should not cost thousands to sort.  Sounds like a 'guestimate' rather than a quote.  ITs not *that* hard to deal with!

Eventually we want to replace with laurel, removing that amount of hedging, and paying for a similar amount of laurel hedging really will cost thousands!

Oh and as a private homeowner, if you have the means you can take the cuttings down the local tip for free.  A large part of the cost of a garderner / tree surgeon will be because they have to pay to dispose of the cuttings

I have a little mini trailer with a cage (old erde 101) that if I really do have too much garden waste I can fill up and take down there

That would reduce the costs significantly

Well I think you’ve now explained why it would cost so much… sounds like a lot of labour and hassle to me, plus added disposal costs. Good on you for keeping on top of it all yourself, you sound like a good neighbour.

@DT78, as someone who used to deliver the post to your address semi-regularly until the end of '17, I bet you have plenty of cuttings to get rid of from the hedge around your front gate alone!

as a hedge they are pretty good at doing the sort of thing you want a hedge to do.

Act as a hiding place for a Tesco's bag full of slightly grotty yet disappointing porn?

Small world !  lol, its not that bad!  approx 18 hours a year on hedge cutting and 9 Full wheelie bins of mulched waste (they really weigh a lot, hard to move).  For what is a pretty bloody big hedge.    I've not mentioned the bigger ones in the back garden 🙂

I can definitely see it costing £, just unless it is truely huge "thousands" is a little bit of an exaggeration.

I did used to get regular threatening letters from the council about cutting it back to the boundary as a local busy body used to complain once or twice a year about them and the council then has a duty to respond.  The hedges must have been this size for many decades.... anyway it never used to come to anything as there is plenty of room on the pavement and its clear the hedge is well maintained

Presumable now the council have completely messed up the junction with a zebra crossing / speed bump / bike lane they have something else to complain about.  That or maybe they've been put in a care home somewhere....

Hedges are probably due their second cut of the year so probably should think about getting the ladder out again!

Neighbours always come over and take the mick, so its community building doing it yourself 🙂

@n0b0dy0ftheg0at if you ever noticed a big of a chunk missing from the above the gate to the side, that was when one fun year I discovered the pleasure of a wasp nest.  The resulting dive off the ladder with the trimmer took a big chunk out I've never been able to get back square!

As for porn, sadly not, but we do get the odd dog poo bag shoved in it.  Thats pretty disgusting.  But better than it just being chucked on the front lawn

(There's no such thing as the high hedge act.  This is not legal advice)

You asked about enforcement.  If you win, a remedial notice is served on the neighbour.  The council determines the content - but they can cover action now (to remedy the problem) and action in future (to stop it happening again).   They can't require the removal of the hedge, only cutting it back to 2m.

This would be a local land charge (i.e. bind future purchasers of the land, and therefore will be reported on by future prospective buyers' solicitors).  It is a criminal offence to violate one of these notices.  Would violation be enforced?  Who knows. It is also possible for the council to enforce a notice to enter the land and do the work themselves if the property owner doesn't comply.    Does that happen?  Who knows.

Can any of that put your neighbour in financial difficulty?  Yes.  If they don't comply (e.g. because they can't afford  it) and they are prosecuted it the penalty is ... a fine.  And the obligation to sort the hedge would persist, so that expense would remain.

You mention the 2m height, but I want to make sure you realise that isn't a height limit for the hedge, but for listening to your complaint.  The test - which can only be applied to a hedge over 2m tall - is whether it your "reasonable enjoyment" of you neighbouring property is being "adversely affected" i.e. a hedge under 2m is not caught even if it affects your enjoyment in that way, and a 5m tall hedge is not caught unless it affects your enjoyment in that way.  Nothing in your post meets the test, although I realise your unstated reasons might well do so. But "it's tall and I don't like it" doesn't suffice.

Finally - FWIW I get why you asked here, but anecdotes (other than ones about neighbours hating each other) are unlikely to be helpful.  Practice (like the fees...) might vary wildly between council areas.

IME Laurel is just as bad. It needs more care to keep it looking right; pruning rather than trimming with hedge cutters and it's just as vigorous. It can end up looking very thin at the base if you're not careful. Blackbirds and Thrushes like it for cover and nesting but it doesn't provide much for the environment. IMHO of course.

Surely if the neighbour isn't interested because it doesn't effect them then seek their permission to chop them.
But do remember that the trees aren't yours and you should make sure all the chopped tree is returned to them.

I'll bet a price for cutting and leaving in situ is more palatable to you.

Hang on a sec.

When I spoke to the neighbour 5 years ago

Was this the last time you spoke to them? Maybe try again... are you on good terms?

Could be they'll say something like "oh yeah, damn things block all the light but we just can't afford to get rid of them... hey, want to go halves? We'll share the giant compost heap and grow roses together instead!"  and everyone will live happily ever after.

Also:

I’m not sure poisonimg a row of tall trees that could fall on our house is the brightest idea.

If they're 6m tall and minimum 10m away then they're not going to fall on your house. At worst you'll have an interestingly deep and prickly lawn.

Here's what it's like. It's actually quite away above the house so closer to 10m high (the smaller tree in the foreground is 4-5m tall).

Thanks for the replies everyone. I will of course be going round to speak to the neighbour over the fence (he's i a different street and due to the massive hedge we don't see each other to have nice neighbourly chats) before taking ot further.

The branches must encroach your property by a good meter at least though. That's not really on either, same as blocking the light.

There is no stand-alone legislation covering high hedges; the legal position is covered by Part 8 of the Anti Social Behaviour Act 2003.

That and the right to light legislation should be your start point to understand the legals before any friendly neighbourly chat.

his garden is brambles and weeds over 6ft high,

It sounds like an opportunity for one of those YTers that do free garden clearances for videos.

@DT78 My memory is awful these days, I can vaguely picture the damage above your head-height quite solid gate, but it might simply be my mind's eye creating it from your description! 😉

Must have been quite the shock, finding a wasp nest while hedge trimming, at least it sounds like you didn't try to remove one of your limbs! 😮

We moved in 11 years ago and the henge to the neighbours over the back was about 3m tall

Perhaps the time for a chat was 10 years ago when it was still at a manageable height without involving tree surgeons!? 🤔